Seminars

Amazonia and the Making of the Andean World

The Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC September Seminar

September 26, 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM

The results of archaeological work over the last two decades have challenged the traditional view of Amazonia as a refuge for primitive hunters and gatherers living in small roving bands and barely subsisting in the hostile jungle environment. Recent studies have revealed evidence for early permanent occupation of the area, astonishingly large-scale societies, precocious development of ceramics, and the domestication of food sources that, some argue, would spread later to the Andean region. This work has also led to a vigorous debate about the nature of the Amazonian environment and the effect of human activities on it.

What do we know about the social and political organization of pre-contact Amazonian societies and the dynamics involved in the rise of places throughout the region—for example, the upper Xingu basin in southern Amazonia,
Marajo Island in the Amazon delta, and the Llanos de Moxo of Bolivia in western Amazonia? What do we know about Amazonian ceramic traditions, which include the earliest ceramics in the entire hemisphere?
What was the nature of relations between formative Amazonia and the Andean region? What do we know about the development of agricultural products in Amazonia and their diffusion to the Andes?